Tilting umbrella

ABSTRACT

A tilting umbrella frame includes an upper shaft part and a lower shaft part, the two parts being connected by a tilting joint to enable the upper shaft part to tilt about an axis with respect to the lower shaft part. A runner slides on the lower shalt part, to spread the cover of the umbrella into its unfurled configuration, and once the umbrella is unfurled, to tilt the upper shaft part. A lever connected to and arranged outside the upper shaft part transmits a pushing force from the runner to the upper shaft part as the runner is pushed beyond a predetermined point at or near the point corresponding to the completely unfurled configuration. The lower end of the lever is held captive in the runner during tilting to enable the runner to pull the shaft back to the straight configuration.

FIELD

The invention concerns a frame for a tilting umbrella and isparticularly useful for a large umbrella or parasol of the type that isused to provide shade at tables and so on. The tilting facility allowsthe cover of the umbrella to be angled as required by the position ofthe sun.

BACKGROUND

Large static umbrellas are often tilted by means of a handle mechanismsuch as a crank or draw cord, because the top of the umbrella is toohigh to reach or is too heavy. The handle is provided at a level easyfor the user to reach and is connected by some mechanism such as achain, cord or rack to the runner of the umbrella, i.e. the moving partto which the stretchers are attached. The crank thus serves both to liftthe runner so as to raise the umbrella into its unfurled position, andto lower the runner so as to lower the umbrella again when required.

The tilting action takes place as the runner reaches its top position,i.e. when the umbrella is completely unfurled. At this point furthermovement of the runner engages a further member associated with theshaft near the tilting joint, causing the tilt to be carried out. Onesuch mechanism is shown, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,673 (S. N.Small), which shows a crank mechanism raising a runner which in turnslides a pin in an angled slot in the upper shaft member. The anglegives rise to a cam action bringing about a tilt of the upper shaftmember.

The Small construction is rather unusual in that the tilting hinge islocated above the runner, even when the runner is slid to its operatingposition. In most tilting umbrellas, such as for instance in U.S. PatNo. 3,850,186 (Weber et al.), U.S. Pat No. 4,697,606 (Ma) or U.S. Pat.No. 5,029,596 (Tung) the runner first slides on to the upper shaft part,and then tilts with it. This latter construction has problems ofstability and is of little significance to the present invention.

While devices of the type shown in the Small patent have been known fora long time, they have the disadvantage that cutouts must be made in theshaft to accommodate various parts of the mechanism, in particular thesliding pin. This weakens the assembly; moreover the insertion of aconsiderable number of connecting parts into the shaft is tricky fromthe manufacturing point of view. It is an aim of the present inventionto mitigate these disadvantages.

SUMMARY

According to the invention there is provided an umbrella frame includingan upper shaft part and a lower shaft part, the two parts beingconnected by a tilting joint to enable the upper part to tilt withrespect to the lower, a runner sliding on the lower shaft part, forspreading the cover of the umbrella into its unfurled configuration, anda lever connected to and arranged outside the upper shaft part, arrangedto tilt the upper shaft part under the influence of the runner as therunner is pushed beyond a certain point at or near the pointcorresponding to the completely unfurled configuration.

Because the lever is outside the shaft the integrity of the shaftconstruction can be maintained while preserving the advantage ofstability afforded by having the runner slide only on the lower shaftpart, i.e. with the tilt joint above the runner. Also the leverconstruction allows a particularly simple assembly with only two movingparts other than the runner, namely the lever and the upper shaft part.

Preferably the tilt axis is located radially outwards of the axis of theshaft, and the attachment of the lever to the upper shaft is about ahorizontal hinge generally on a level with and parallel to the tiltaxis, on the opposite side with respect to the axis of the umbrellashaft so as to afford the necessary leverage. It is best if during itsaction the lever is held captive by the runner, so that the runner canpull the lever down as well as push it up. This can be achieved bygiving the lever a lug near its lower end, facing outwards and engagedby an inwardly facing lip of the runner. In order to allow release ofthe lug from the lip, so that the runner is free to travel down theshaft to fold the umbrella, the shaft can have a recess at some point onthe travel of the runner, preferably at the point at which the runnerfirst engages, so as to allow the end of the lever to be pressed furtherradially inwards as the runner travels downwards and thus to release theconnection of the lever to the runner.

A restoring means such as a spring urging the lower end of the leveragainst the shaft can be provided, so as to ensure that the runnertravels over the lug of the lever as it travels upwards, allowingengagement, and the runner and lug can have suitable inclined surfacessuch that the upward movement of the runner lifts the lower end of thelever out of the recess, freeing the lever to be pushed upwards.

The invention is particularly applicable to tilting umbrellas of thekind in which unfurling and tilting the umbrella is performed by meansof a crank, draw cord or other means lower down on the lower shaft part,i.e. accessible to a user, and in the case of a crank some device suchas a cable or rack mechanism for transforming the turning action into alift of the runner and, subsequently, a tilt.

For a better understanding of the invention an embodiment of it will nowbe described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the runner and tilt assembly in theposition where the head has just started to tilt;

FIG. 2 show the two shaft parts with the lever, in the tiltedconfiguration but with the runner omitted;

FIG. 3A shows a side view, partly in section, of the assembly with therunner engaged on the lever but before tilting;

FIG. 3B shows a side view of the lever; and

FIGS. 4A and 4B show the main parts of the runner assembly; and

Each of FIGS. 5, 6, and 7 shows a perspective view of an alternativeembodiment of an umbrella frame in accordance with the presentinvention, together with an umbrella cover.

DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1 an umbrella shaft is in two parts, a lower part 1 and an upperpart 3 pivoting on the lower part 1 about an axis 11. At the top of theupper part 3, though not shown, there is the usual head with ribsextending radially and supporting a cover. On the lower shaft part thereis a slider or runner 5 from which extend, likewise radially andcorresponding in number to the ribs, stretchers 7 meeting the ribssomewhere along their length so as to hold them extended with the covertaut when the umbrella is in use. To fold the umbrella the runner isslid down the lower shaft part 1 in the usual way.

It is possible to design a tilting umbrella so that the tilt action isindependent of the movement of the runner, although clearly the runnerdoes have to be near its uppermost position for a tilt movement to bepossible or of any use, since otherwise the umbrella cover is folded.However, particularly with large sunshades it represents asimplification for the user for the tilt to happen automatically onfurther movement of the runner after it has more or less reached its topposition, and the invention is concerned with this kind of mechanism.

In the embodiment shown, the connection of the runner movement to thetilt action is effected by a lever 21 extending from an attachment pointnear the base of the upper shaft part 3, generally parallel to theshaft, downwards along the lower shaft part to the runner, and by acorresponding construction of the runner 5 itself, to be explainedbelow. The lever 21 is pivoted near its upper end on a pivot axis 15located parallel to, and at approximately the same height as, the pivotaxis 11 in a suitably shaped base portion 13 of the upper shaft part 3;this base portion is constituted by two roughly triangular platesmoulded onto opposite sides of the lower end of the upper shaft part.The pivot axes 11 and 15 lie on opposite sides of the central shaftaxis. The other end of the lever 21 has a foot-like shape, shown fromthe side in FIGS. 3A and 3B, with an inner catch or heel 23, an inclinedlower surface 24 and an outwardly protruding toe or lug 25, thefunctions of which various parts will become apparent subsequently. Theupper end of the lever 21 also has a spring leaf 29 which in thestraight configuration of the shaft provides a restoring means to pressagainst the upper shaft part 3, and hence urges the foot end of thelever against the lower shaft part 1.

The lower shaft part 1 has a recess 31 which is engaged by the heel 23of the lever and has a shoulder 33 which is matched and engaged by ashoulder 27 on the lever, under the urging of the spring leaf 29, whenthe shaft is straight. There is also a shoulder 33 which matches ashoulder 27 on the lever. Both shaft parts and the lever can be made forinstance of a plastics material or of steel or any suitable alloy, thelatter particularly in the case of the shaft. In fact the lower shaftpart 1 is itself made in two sections, the upper or hinge section 1 aand the lower section 1 b, providing the main length of the shaft. Thehinge section 1 a of the lower shaft part 1 is sufficiently long toaccommodate the mechanism, say about 20 cm long, and has an end portion17 with ridges for insertion into the lower section or pole 1 b. At itstop end, in the vicinity of and to one side of the hinge, the shaftsection 1 a has a boss 41 extending outwards, in which is a grooveconstituting a guide for the cord used to raise the runner.

The runner 5 is constructed in two main parts, namely an outer ring orsleeve 51, as shown in FIG. 4A, and a core 55, as shown in FIG. 4B, thering fitting over and engaging with the core as shown in FIG. 3. Aone-piece construction would also be possible though the two-pieceversion may be easier to manufacture. The two parts are held together byengagement of two internal annular ridges (not shown) in the sleeve 51with corresponding grooves in the exterior of the cylindrical section ofthe core 55; alternatively or additionally they can be glued together.The upper rim of the ring 51 has an inwardly facing bead 53 forco-operating with the toe 25 of the lever, and the lower part of thecore has a flange 59 into which the inner ends of the stretchers arefastened, and may also have a downwardly extending sleeve part (notshown) to act as a grip for manual operation of the umbrella. The upperend of the core 55 is bevelled so as to form a sloping surface 57co-operating with the sloping lower surface or sole 24 of the foot ofthe lever, as will be explained.

In terms of materials, typically the hinge section of the lower shaftpart can be made of a plastics material such as acetal or nylon, thepole of aluminium, steel or wood, and the upper shaft section of nylon.The lever can be made of acetal, while one or both parts of the runnercan be made of a cheaper plastics material such as HDPE.

Operation of the umbrella from the folded state is as follows. Therunner is first raised, by hand or, as depicted in FIG. 5, by amechanism such as a crank 60 which controls a cord 61 passing up throughthe shaft (or in the case of a wooden shaft outside the shaft),returning round the guide 41 (or pulley) and down to the runner, untilthe runner is raised sufficiently far for the ribs and stretchers to beextended and the cover taut. At this point the runner is approximatelyin the position shown in FIG. 3A. If the umbrella is to stay straightthis is the end of the operation.

If the user wants to tilt the umbrella he simply lifts the runner alittle further, until the bevelled surface 57 of the core of the runner5 starts to ride under the sole 24 of the foot of the lever 21. Thelever is thus pivoted radially outwards, clearing the recess 31. Theclearance between the toe 25 of the lever and the inner rim 53 of thering 51 is chosen to accommodate this amount of radial travel but littlemore, so that the foot of the lever is then trapped under the rim 53.The runner then pushes the lever upwards by pressure of the bevelledsurface 57 against the sole 24, the heel 23 sliding axially upwards overthe lower shaft 1.

As the lever travels upwards it exerts a torque, via its pivot axis 15on the base portion 13, around the pivot axis 11 on the upper shaft part3, and the upper shaft part tilts. This tilting continues as long asrequired, if the cable mechanism is capable of holding the head of theumbrella in position, or the tilting is stopped when the heel 23 reachesthe shoulder 33 on the shaft. This is the end position for stoppingtilting since the foot end of the lever is not able to swing out anyfurther to clear this shoulder due to the engagement of the runner.

For the reverse operation the handle is cranked the other way and therunner 5 is moved downwards, drawing the lever with it via the bead 53and the toe 25, until the lower limit of travel of the lever is reachedand the heel 23 again engages into the recess 31 under the action of theleaf spring 29. At this point the rim 53 no longer engages with the footof the lever and the runner can travel further downwards if required.

It is advantageous that the runner can also be used to pull the leverdownwards, because this allows a positive “untilting” operation as wellas the tilting. However, the straightening of the umbrella shaft couldalso be effected by way of a suitable return spring, if it weresufficiently strong. The disadvantage of such an arrangement would bethat the tilting action would have to take place against the force ofthis spring.

Another alternative would be a separate manually operated returnmechanism such as a second cord. This could be incorporated into thecrank mechanism, so as to form a cord system to pull the runner down theshaft as well as up it; the mechanism could also serve the purpose ofholding the upper shaft part 3 at any desired angle of tilt.

In place of the crank 60 and cord 61 of FIG. 5 a crank 60 and rackmechanism 62, as depicted in FIG. 6, or a draw cord, as depicted in FIG.7 can be utilized.

What is claimed is:
 1. An umbrella frame, comprising an upper shaftpart; a lower shaft part, a tilting joint connecting the upper shaftpart and the lower shaft part to enable the upper shaft part to tiltwith respect to the lower shaft part; a runner slidably positioned onthe lower shaft part, for spreading a cover of an umbrella into anunfurled configuration; and a lever having an upper end pivotallyconnected to the outside the upper shaft part and a lower end, the lowerend being urged to engage the lower shaft part, the lever acting to tiltthe upper shaft part under the influence of the runner as the runner ispushed upward beyond a predetermined point at or near a pointcorresponding to the unfurled configuration; wherein the upper shaftpart and the lower shaft part are pivotally connected about a firstpivot axis located radially outwards of an axis of the upper shaft part,and the lever is pivotally connected to the upper shaft part by a secondpivot axis substantially on the same level with and parallel to thefirst pivot axis, and on the opposite side of the upper shaft part fromthe first pivot axis when the upper shaft part is in a fully tiltedposition.
 2. An umbrella frame according to claim 1, in which the leverincludes means for holding the lever captive on the runner.
 3. Anumbrella frame according to claim 2, in which the means for holding thelever comprises an outwardly facing lug near a lower end of the lever,and an inwardly facing lip of the runner adapted to engage the lugduring a tilting operation.
 4. An umbrella frame according to claim 3,in which the lower shaft part has a recess allowing the lower end of thelever to be pressed further inwards into the recess as the runnertravels downwardly to release the lever from the runner and thus to lockthe upper shaft part in the straight position.
 5. An umbrella frameaccording to claim 4, further comprising restoring means urging thelower end of the lever against the lower shaft part so as to ensure thatthe lip of the runner travels over the lug of the lever as the runnertravels upwards up to and past a point of first engagement of the runnerand the lever.
 6. An umbrella frame according to claim 5, in which therunner and the lug have suitable inclined surfaces such that upwardmovement of the runner lifts the lower end of the lever out of therecess, freeing the lever to be pushed upwards.
 7. An umbrella frameaccording to claim 6, in which the runner includes a sleeve-shaped uppersection of a diameter greater than the diameter of the shaft, the upperedge of the sleeve-shaped section including the lip of the runner.
 8. Anumbrella frame according to claim 4, further comprising tilt stop meansfor arresting the lever and thus preventing the upper shaft part fromtilting beyond a preestablished point.
 9. An umbrella frame according toclaim 4, which the recess is at a point at which the runner firstengages the lug.
 10. A tilting umbrella, comprising an umbrella frameaccording to claim 1; an umbrella cover, means for lifting the runner tounfurl the umbrella cover and subsequently tilt the upper shaft part, soas to tilt the umbrella, said means being located on the lower shaftpart so as to be accessible to a user of the umbrella.
 11. A tiltingumbrella as claimed in claim 10, wherein said means comprises a crank;and a cord for lifting the runner in response to turning of the crank.12. A tilting umbrella as claimed in claim 11, wherein said meanscomprises a crank; and a rack mechanism for lifting the runner inresponse to turning of the crank.
 13. A tilting umbrella as claimed inclaim 11, wherein said means comprises as draw cord.